District: $75,000 in after-school funds stolen

Posted: Friday, March 31, 2006

A Clarke County School District administrative investigation has found $75,000 was stolen from a Winterville Elementary School after-school program, Schools Superintendent Lewis Holloway said Thursday.

School officials were uncertain whether a police estimate of the theft amount was accurate until the school district's business services staff completed an exhaustive review of financial records.

The school district forwarded the findings to Athens-Clarke police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for a criminal investigation targeting the former principal, Yvonne John-Daniels, and secretary, Margie Browning.

Athens-Clarke police Detective Beverly Russell said she will review the school district's findings before seeking arrest warrants because she needs to know how much money the district claims is missing.

"I have to look at what they did, take their documents and go through them to check the accuracy of their numbers so when I go to court, I can say all the information is true and accurate," Russell said.

It could take another two months to complete the criminal investigation, she said.

The missing after-school program funds came to light in June, when an audit of Winterville Elementary School uncovered certain accounting irregularities, including transactions without receipts. In some cases, payments were larger than figures on attached receipts, and many adjustments weren't properly documented or approved, according to a summary of the business services review.

John-Daniels abruptly resigned from her position in December, just days before she was named a suspect by police. In a handwritten resignation letter dated Dec. 9, she accepted responsibility for charges made on a Sam's Club credit card as well as "any other charges assessed by the school district."

Browning resigned in January amid police allegations she conspired with John-Daniels to divert money from the school; school secretaries typically are responsible for bookkeeping in Clarke County's elementary schools.

John-Daniels' attorney, David Crowe, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Russell said she did not know if Browning had an attorney.

The district's internal investigation took until this month to complete because business services staff had to follow a paper trail that involved pulling copies of checks and finding who cashed them and where.

"I'm glad it's concluded and that we have an audit system that can catch this sort of thing," Holloway said. "I believe we have trustworthy employees, and this was an aberration that was unfortunate for the schools and the school district."